Bamberg
Beer Paradise
The town of Bamberg has deservedly been given the distinction of a UNESCO
world heritage site. It's one of the most beautiful cities in Europe and
its architecture alone makes it worthy of a visit. For those of us with
an interest in beer the city has an extra attraction: it's the centre of
the world's densest concentration of breweries.

Bamberg and its surroundings are a paradise for the beer-lover. This is
where the myth of German beer - lots of good-quality, cheap beer - is actually
true. Not dozens, but hundreds of tiny breweries continue to brew traditional
styles in the traditional way. You'll find more variation here - both in
terms of different types of beer and in diifferences between examples of
the same style - than in the whole of the rest of Germany. Bamberg brewers
aren't afraid to give their beers some individuality, or risk upsetting
a few unadventurous consumers.

The standard of Bamberg beer is astonishingly high, especially considering
the technical difficulties of lager brewing on a small scale. But this,
after all, the home of bottom fermenting and the brewers have had a long
time to perfect their skills. It is interesting to note how much fuller-flavoured
and distinctive their lagers are than those found anywhwere else in the
world. I can remember my first encounter with a Franconian Kellerbier. I
couldn't believe that it wasn't top-fermented. Where was that rather dull
"rounded" quality normally so typical of a lager beer?

I would like to share the experience of artisanal lager brewing with as
many of you as possible. The more of us that go out there and support the
breweries in Bamberg and Franconia with our wallets, the more of them will
continue to weave their magic. I hope that this page will serve as both
an inspiration and a guide to those wishing to experience more of German
beer.

How
this guide is organised
This guide is divided into three sections: Bamberg
itself, the nearby village of Memmelsdorf
and Forchheim, about halfway to Nuremburg
along the main railway line.

If you're still living in the paper world, "Die Neue Frankische Brauereikarte"
by Stefan Mack (Verlag Stefan Mack, 1996, ISBN 3-927868-00-0) is a wonderful
celebration of Franconian brewing, as well as containing everything you
could ever want to know about all 300+ breweries.

Bamberg, a town of around 70,000 inhabitants, somehow manages
to support eleven breweries. The majority are little more than pub-breweries
and only one, Kaiserdom, is of a significant size. Their beers dominate,
but do not monopolise the town's pubs and bars. The better-known beers from
the region (St.Georgen Bräu, for example) are readily available, too.

Bamberg Pubs
Bamberg pubs haven't fared too badly in comparison with those in other parts
of Germany, There are still plenty of old-fashioned places to drink. The
bars attached to working breweries are mostly the best bet if you're in
search of a traditional atmosphere. Some bear an uncanny likeness to a Yorkshire
corridor pub - there's a taproom (or public bar) containing the bar counter,
with a hatch to serve the corridor behind it. Fässla is a particularly good
example of this arrangement.

Fed up with dreary hotel bars? Well, there's no need to endure such bars
in Bamberg. Some of the brewpubs double up as hotels. Amongst the many former
breweries in the town centre are ones (such as Ringlein) still functioning
as traditional inns.

The cancer of careless refurbishment has, of course, also struck here. I
have done my best in my descriptions to point out clearly to the reader
any victims I have spotted. Thankfully, soulless early-70's bars, so depressingly
common in most of Germany, even in Bavaria, are pretty much unknown here.

Bamberg
BeersBamberg beer comes in many strengths and
colours. With around 50 different beers to choose from, the town should
keep tickers busy for a day or two.

Though some of the bottled beers can be tricky to track down in Bamberg
pubs. Even in those, such as Fässla, which are basically brewpubs, don't
usually sell their full range in the bar. Of course, there is also a carryout
department, where they do stock all their beers.

I hope that you will all experience as much pleasure as I have in this very
special place..

Opening hours: April to October, Wed - Sun between
13:00 and 17:00. (Group tours at other times are possible by appointment.)

Number of draught beers:

Number of bottled beers:

Regular draught beers:

Food:

A museum full of interesting old bits of brewing kit and
paraphenalia. It's located in the former Brauerei Michaelsberg, which stopped
brewing in 1969.

They offer specialist tours such as Museumsführung mit Bierprobe, where
for an extra €9 you get a beer tasting chaired by a local brewer. You
can hire out the Museumsgaststube (Museum pub), though you have to provide
your own food and drink.

Specialist beer bars are a bit of a rarity in Germany. It's unusual
to find somehere with more than half a dozen different beers and bars tend to stick
to the products of a single brewery. Abseits is an exception, proudly styling itself
as Bamberg's Ältestes Studentencafé & Bierspezialausschank (Oldest student café and
special beer pub). It offers a constantly changing selection of draught beers, beers
from most of the Bamberg breweries and other Franconian classics. Some examples are:
Hartmann, Brauerei Sauer of Rossdorf and Brauerei Zehendner in Mönchsambach (their
kellerbier is a knockout).

Passing on to a physical description of the establishment, it's a simple modern cafe
bar in a pink-painted 19th century building, located behind the station. It has white
painted walls very sparsely adorned with pictures and very low-kew wooden furniture.
There is a beer garden at the rear.

A
corner pub with several rooms off a corridor. The style is as usual for
brewery taps hereabouts: panelled walls, white pine topped tables, bare
wooden floor. It's a little bit folksy, but fairly genuine-looking. A nice
touch are the seat backs carved with a design of a dwarf pushing a barrel
(the brewery's logo).

Sadly the wooden barrels on the bar are now just fakes: the beer is no longer
served by gravity but comes out of disguised pressure taps.

Wandering towards the back of the complex, it's possible to get a glimpse
into the brewery buildings and see bottles rattling along the bottling line.
It's very obvious that this is the tap of a functioning brewery.

On an early morning visit, it was surprising to see how busy the place was.
I just hope the blokes in the Fire Brigade t-shirts were on their way from
and not to work.

The building also houses a hotel with 20-odd rooms at fairly reasonable prices.

Now I won't pretend that Greifenklau isn't a bit out of the way, stuck
as it is in an odd 18th century street snaking along a ridge running out from the
town centre. There are rooms either side of the entrance, the larger one on the right
also housing the bar counter. With the panelled walls, beamed ceiling and lived-in
look, it's like a cross between an English country pub and a beerhall.

The interior is all very pleasant, but outside is the real highlight and why it's
worth coming all the way out of town: the beer garden. Sitting on folding chairs under
mature trees you have a fantastic view of the forested hill where Altenburg castle
perches. Stunning is the only word to describe it. On a balmy Summer evening I can
think of few better places to be.

Greifenklau is very much a pub brewery, not supplying draught beer elsewhere. Sadly,
the beer isn't anything special and probably my least favourite in Bamberg. The beer
garden, however, cannot be highly enough recommended.

A
stone building that which takes its name from another former brewery. Founded in 1885
as the Bamberger Exportbrauerei Frankenbräu, it was granted the right to call itself
Hofbräu in 1901 by Prinz Rupprecht von Bayern. In 1919 it fused with Hofbräu Erlangen
to become Hofbräu AG Bamberg und Erlangen. This company was bought by Patrizierbräu
in 1972 and the Bamberg brewery on the Pödeldorfer Straße was closed in 1977. The
last Hofbräu beer brands disappeared in 1992, when Patrizierbräu was in its turn bought
up by Pschorrbräu.

Inside it's a bit posh and looks like they expect you to eat. It depresses me to see
how insensitively the interior of such a lovely building can be remodelled. In the
Summer you can sit outside and there drinking seems the norm. My stars are for the
open-air experience.

The unfiltered beer from the Zehender
brewery of Mönchsambach cannot be praised enough. It's one of the best
lagers I've drunk. Sadly, my last news from Bamberg reported that this beer
was no longer on sale in Hofbräu. I am unaware if this will be permanent.

Those of you who know a little German woun't be surprised to learn that
this cosy corner pub boasts a tiled coal oven ("Kachelofen"). In the Summer
you probably wouldn't notice, as the seating area on the street outside is very appealing
on a warm day.

Zum Kachelofen has other attractions, too: it's just around the corner from Schlenkerla
and serves the outstanding kellerbier from St.Georgen Bräu. It also sells unfiltered
St. Georgen Bräu Weißbie in bottles. Inside, it's much like any of the slightly folksy
pubs in Bamberg with its pine tables and red tiled floor. It's more fun outside.

Kaiserdom's city centre outlet is an attractive stone-faced building
close to the law courts. You should note that although the address is Urbanstrasse
the entrance is actually on Wilhelmsplatz.

It's disappointingly upmarket, which probably explains the emphasis on food rather
than on beer. There are a few interesting bits of old crap scattered around, but rather
too many tablecloths for my taste.It is also a hotel.

I've always found the name Wunderburg remarkably appropriate for a 50m
long street containing two breweries. The entrance to Keesman is thorough a wide arch,
behind which is a stone-flagged corridor. To the left is an L-shaped room containing
the bar. A rather unsubtle renovation (early 1980's would be my guess) has left its
mark here.

It has the usual pine tables and panelled walls adorned with dead animal skulls, but
it's all rather too pale brown and not very lived-in. In the courtyard separating
the pub from the brewery is a small beer garden.

Klosterbräu (formerly the Fürstbischöffliche Braunbierbrauerei)
is Bamberg's oldest brewery, dating from 1533. Around the corner from the pub, on
Concordiastraße, is the facade of the brewery, with the name almost totally
obscured by climbing foliage. Also on Concordiastraße is the brewery's small
off licence.

The pub itself has the usual wide arch (formerly for access to the brewery at the
rear) with a room on either side. The larger room to the right houses the bar counter.
The interior is very simple but pleasant. You know the score by now: wooden floor,
panelled walls, pine-topped tables, beamed ceiling. The same faces keep popping up
in the many old photographs adorning the walls, so I would guess that they are of
the former owners of the brewery (they appear to be pretty comfortably off). On the
street outside there are a few tables for those who like their drinking al fresco.

The food is excellent and the staff very friendly. I can also highly recommend the
Schwärzla, a black beer unlike anything else brewed in Bamberg.

If asked to pick an all-round favourite pub in Bamberg, I would have
to go for Mahrs Bräu. It has everything: great beer, brilliant atmosphere, characterful
rooms and a beer garden. You enter the brewery complex through a gateway which leads
into a small beer garden.

The inside of the pub is reached via a wide flagged corridor, which stretches way
to the rear of the building. The first small irregular-shaped room contains the bar,
where wooden barrels (real ones) dispense beer by gravity. The whole place is pretty
rickety and eccentric, but packed with charm. It's obvious that there hasn't been
a designer within miles of the place.

Behind the pub building is an odd little courtyard, also containing some tables, bounded
by various bits of the brewery. Strangely, a couple of flats have their balconies
facing directly onto it. Great view if you're into beer, though I can hardly imagine
it's very peaceful.

Unlike most of its rivals in Bamberg, this is most definitely an industrial
brewery with a taproom at the front rather than an ancient pub with a brewery at the
back. The location, stuck away behind the railway line, emphasises the industrial
nature of the enterprise.

The pub's interior has a certain 1950's retro charm that is also quite unlike anywhere
else listed here. In addition to the large main bar, there is also a decent sized
beer garden. If you're wondering from the above, why anyone would bother coming all
the way out here I can give a simple answer: the beer. Maisel's Kellerbier is about
as good as bottom-fermented beer gets.

For those unwilling to make the trek out to Maisel's brewery, this is
a handy outlet for their beers in the city centre. It's older and more traditional
than the brewery tap. Inside it has all the standard features: panelled walls, pine
tables and vaulted ceilings. It's all pretty cosy and quite compact. It also houses
a hotel, beer garden and a skittle alley.

As an extra bonus, Fässla and Spezial are on the same street not more than 100
yards away. Sadly, the magnificent Maisel's Kellerbier is only available in bottles.

Judenstraße must have been quite a place 100 years ago.
In a street barely 50 metres long there were 3 breweries side by side: Zum
Baltsenwirth at number 3, Zum Weißbierbrauer at number 5, Zum
Polobären at number 7 and Zum
Blümlein at number 11 . Sadly, all three belong to the
56 Bamberg breweries to have closed since 1818.

Reichelbräu first became a brewery in 1641. In 1653 it was transformed into the "fürstliches
Weißbierhaus" (the wheat beer brewery owned by the ruling prince bishop). It
doesn't seem to have done all that well, as in 1818 it only brewed 128 eimers (buckets)
of beer - only 2 of Bamberg's 65 breweries produced less and one of those had burnt
down. The building was thoroughly - and sensitively - rennovated in the 1980's.

A look at the trendy menu outside could deceive you as to the interior, which is still
pretty traditional. It has two main rooms with long wooden pine-topped tables, panelled
walls and vaulted ceilings.

The beer range is pretty good, though all the beers (despite their names) come from
the Kulmbacher brewery. The food is
very varied, including pasta and Tex-Mex.
***** CLOSED *****

One of Bamberg's many former breweries, Ringlein is a 16th century half-timebered
building. As can be deduced from the word "restaurant" in the name, this
establishment is quite up-market. That means that its wooden tables have tablecloths.
On the other hand, a courtyard to the side and rear houses a beer garden with views
of a charming part of the city centre.

The beer sellection is pretty good, including bottled Schlenkerla Rauchbier Weizen.
The Ringlas Helles is, I suspect, another Bamberg product rebadged as a house beer.

It's amazing that such an obscure backwater as Laurenzistraat should,
until recently, been home to two breweries. Röckeleinskeller may no longer brew, but
the brewhouse is still intact and visible from the street, in a building adjacent
to the pub. Like Greifenklau, it was founded in the 18th century. It does still have
its own beer, with Kaiserdom brewing Röckeleins Kellerbier specially for it.

The pub itself is on the trendy side, but there is a pleasant, shady beer garden at
the rear.

Schlenkerla is a very "dark brown" pub, with lots of old wood everywhere.
The tap room has a very basic bar counter upon which rest a couple of wooden barrels.
Happily these are still genuine and dispensing beer without top-pressure. Above the
almost black wooden panelling, there are a few old pictures and various dead animal
skulls. A beamed ceiling and the usual white pine topped tables complete the scene.

There is a further drinking area in the entrance corridor and a strange semi-roofed
courtyard, which houses the off sales counter. Very original and totally charming.
It's rightly very popular, so finding a seat can be tricky.

Once you've mastered the strange taste sensation that is smoky bacon flavour beer,
try the Rauchbier Weizen. Smoked wheat beer, now that really is weird. Or their
Helles a pale lager that uses no smoked malt but picks up the smoked flavour from
the brewing eqipment. If you've got the bug, they also make a Rauchbier schnapps.

Spezial is an alsolute must for the rauchbier fans amongst you. With
no fewer than four different varieties (five including the bock in the Winter) it
must be the world leader in smoked beer. It's also very handily placed, directly opposite
Fässla.

The building is an attractve, ancient, half-timbered job, with an old-fashioned wrought
iron sign (sporting the equally tradtional brewer's symbol of a six-pointed star).
You should be able to guess by now what to expect inside: dark wood panelling, long
pine tables, animal skulls. In one corner, atop a small bar sit wooden barrels and,
yes, these are real ones. Now for some reason this place has always remined me of
U Fleku in Pague, albeit on a much smaller scale.

Franconian food of a very high standard is available (I can highly recommend the bratwurst).
There is has a very small hotel with 7 double rooms.

A traditional town-centre pub with a beamed ceiling. It dates
back to 1380. It has been owned by Maisel since 1911. A rare outlet for
the excellent Maisel beers. There is also a small beer garden at the rear.

The town
Forchheim is a town of around 20,000 (lucky) people half way between Nuremburg
and Bamberg. Why are the inhabitants so fortuitous? Because they've got
four breweries.

This sort of thing impresses me. I grew up in a Midlands brewing town. We
thought we were special with Hole's and Warwick's. And there were 25,000
of us. (Hole's occupies a special place in my heart - AK, AK, IPA, kegfiller.)

You could easily believe that Forchheim still has five beweries. Beer is
sold under the Brauhaus Forchheim name, even though the brewery was closed
several years ago by Wolfshöher Privatbrauerei.

Beer tourists have been well served by whatever intelligence controls the
universe (don't want to upset any of you religious types), who has clumped
together the breweries and their brauereigaststätte in the town centre.The
station, however, was placed by a town planner and is an uncomfortable walk
away.

Right on the edge of town is a wonderful place called the "Kellerberg".
Basically it's a wooded hillside covered in "Sommerkeller". And
the home of the Annafest.

Sommerkeller
Sommerkeller is a beer garden, usually out in a wood.

In the early days of bottom-fermenting natural rock cellars were needed
to store the beer through the warm Summer months. Gradually breweries started
placing a few tables around the entrance and selling their beer cellar-fresh.

Nowadays there is usually some sort of building - which may vary from a
glorified shed to a full-scale pub - on the site.

Annafest
Every July the "Kellerberg" is the site of the Annafest, when,
in addition to the beer gardens, the hillside is also covered in a fairground.
It's a very popular event. Not something I've seen anywhere else - a combination
of beer, trees and rides.*

Many breweries brew a special Annafest beer. In total there are a couple
of dozen Sommerkeller with beer from these breweries:

*I'm lying here. I have seen this combination. The Riverside
Festival in Nottingham had all these elements. Though if I had qualified
beer with "good", it would have been discounted. The beer was
depressingly awful. I don't quite know how to tell you this. It wasn't my
fault. I had no choice. Everyone else was doing it. My brother did it first.
He told me to do it too. The pub only sold keg beer. It was all crap. Smoothflow
John Smith's was the only ale. It was the best choice. It is Czech.
Look - it's a lezak really. No, don't translate it. Don't use the L-word.
...No....no ..... No more excuses, here's the truth. I,. I, .. I...I drank
a pint of lager in an English pub. It was my first time. No, the earth didn't
move. It fell from beneath my feet.

A personal note
is in order here. Please be careful at the Annafest. The rips in my trousers
and scars on my elbows bear witness to the hidden dangers of this event.
They sell litre steins of around Märzen strength: 13º Plato
5.6 - 6% ABV. I have photographic evidence of my last two hours there,
but no recall. The beers are stronger than you think ... and those litre
glasses way too big..... Ask Andrew...

From the ouside Eichhorn looks like a classic German country
pub, with its half-timbered facade and wrought-irn sign. Inside it's sadly
more 1980's than 1880's. As soon as you spot the tablecloths you realise
that this is more of a restaurant than a pub, which I always find odd in
a brewery tap. You would expect beer to get top priority.

The hop vines hanging from the ceiling sort of make this point, but not
all that strongly. The walls are cluttered with slightly too much old crap,
most of which is around a rather obvious squirrel theme. Another pub where
most of the charm and character has been modernised out in a disturbingly
casual way.

Fränkische Bierstube is an attractive old building on Forchheim's main
pedestrianised shopping street. It has an unusual painted interior with decorated
benches and chairs. There is an old-fashioned coal oven and leaded glass windows depicting
scenes of Franconian life. On my visit, it was full of grannies, but perhaps that's
just because it was a Sunday lunchtime.

Please note that the Brauhaus Forchheim Pils is actually brewed by the Wolfshöhe brewery.

The Hebendanz brewery tap is in a half-timbered building with a very
high roof (it has 3 floors of attics). It's the middle of the three brewery taps on
Sattlertorstrasse and easily the most interesting-looking of them from the outside.

With Neder the ouside of the pub does not deceive. It has quite a 1950's
look and that's exactly what it's like inside, too. On entering the pub what immediately
sprang into my mind was the Baker's Arms in Swindon's railway village. An unashamedly
postwar look that, while being about as unfashinable as you can get outside of flairs
and platform shoes, manages to win you over because its carried out with both consistency
and integrity. In the right place even formica can be charming. So, the table tops
are very charming, the chairs are wooden and the flooor is stone. The beamed ceiling
is one original feature to have been retained.

The layout is typical of Franconian breweries: a corridor with a hatch to the bar
in the taproom. Neder isn't exactly at the cutting edge of fashion, but the atmosphere
is good and the beer comes straight from oak barrels.

Memmelsdorf is a large village just to the Northeast of Bamberg. To get
there, take the number 7 bus from Bamberg station. This is Frankenland,
so it shouldn't come as any surprise to find a village with two breweries.
They're only a few doors away from each other along the village's main street.
In the neighbouring village of Merkendorf there are another two breweries.

As you will be able to see from the photo, there is very little Olde
Worlde about Höhn. The architecture is unashamedly 1960's and sits a little uneasily
with what is in many ways a very traditional brewpub. The materials used are very
much in keeping with older pubs - lots of pine, tiled floors - but the resulting effect
is a bit bland. It's difficult to find anything either to praise or criticise very
much. It is also a hotel.

Rating: ***

Public transport:

Brauerei-Gaststätte Leicht

Hauptstraße 27,
Memmelsdorf.Tel. 0951 - 43910

Opening hours: Thu-Tue 09:00 - 24:00

Number of draught beers: 3

Number of bottled beers:

Regular draught beers:

Weismainer Krone Pils

Food: Snacks, meals.

Leicht is in an older building than Höhn, but the interior is a similar
modern interpretation of a traditional brewpub. I did find the fish tanks on the bar
to more than slightly weird (the only odder feature in a pub that I can recall, is
the café in Dendermonde that has a parrot in the toilets).. That apart, it's
all a bit dull and unexciting.

It unfortunately ceased brewing in 1999. The beers now come from Weismainer
beers from Püls Bräu.

Rating: ***

Public transport:

Update

In late 2002 I received this email from T.G. Fisher about the brewpubs of Memmelsdorf:

I have been staying at the Gasthof Hohn every couple of years
since May of 1991. The rooms are much better than their price would indicate.
In 1991 and 1993 I found their beer to be below average for small town Germany.
In April of 2002 it had much improved. I had a long talk with some local
guys there about the ebb and flow of local breweries being bought up by
the "big guys." The beer at the Drei Kronen was god-awful (sehr schlecht)
in 1991 and 1998. Even the local guys who hang out at Hohn for an afternoon
beer shake their heads and laugh when one mentions Drei Kronen bier.

The place that impressed me was the Leicht. In 1991 in was a traditional
smokey, crowded and loud German beer hall. And the beer was ausgezeichnet!
I closed the place one night with a bunch of locals. A memorable time. By
1998 it had become a quiet little restaurant. Now the Leicht brewery has
been bought by a large company bent on expansion. Damn shame. I plan to
return to Bamberg, Memmelsdorf and the Hartmann in Wurgau in April 2003.

There are many exceptional places to relax and enjoy beer in Germany. I
would recommend Landshut (Wittmann Bier) Ulm (Gold Ochsen and Ulmer) Augsberg
(Hasen Bier) but one could spend several vacations in and around Bamberg
and not experience it all.